Teens rescued after spending frozen night on Alouette Mountain

Three male teenagers were rescued from Alouette Mountain Saturday night.

Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue members were paged at around 7:40 p.m. after the teens sent out a distress call on their emergency satellite beacon that was relayed to Ridge Meadows RCMP.

When cellphone contact was made, search team members learned that the group was lightly equipped and not prepared to spend the night in sub-zero temperatures in the snow.

When reached again, at about 1:40 a.m. on Sunday, the teens told rescuers that two of them were actually soaking wet from the hike up, they had no stove or source of heat and the onset of hypothermia was underway.

The group did have a tent and sleeping bags, but the items were not suitable for the winter mountain environment.

A search team was transported part way up the mountain by a side-by-side UTV along a fire access road. The team got the group into dry clothing and started heating water and food.

However, a punctured tire at the drop site meant that the second team had to hike up the mountain to the gear cache, where extra supplies of food, water, propane and heat packs were stored, while the UTV limped back to base.

Search and rescue members stayed with the men until first light Sunday morning, when they moved to a location suitable for a helicopter landing. It took three flights to extract all three teens from the mountain.

The rescue was completed by 8:45 a.m. The teens were transported by ambulance to Ridge Meadows Hospital for evaluation.